NAMES AND NUMBERS

Published 4:00 am, Monday, January 3, 2000

Stars

STEVE BEUERLEIN, Panthers, passed for 322 yards and five touchdowns in Carolina's 45-13 rout of New Orleans, but it wasn't enough as Carolina lost out by 11 points in a playoff point differential tiebreaker with Green Bay.

JAY FIEDLER, Jaguars, completed 28 of 39 passes for 317 yards and a touchdown in his first NFL start as Jacksonville clinched home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs with a 24-7 victory over Cincinnati.

ROB JOHNSON, Bills, completed 24 of 32 passes for 287 yards and two touchdowns in his first start of the season as Buffalo defeated Indianapolis 31-6.

JIMMY SMITH and KEENAN MCCARDELL, Jaguars, combined for 23 receptions for 273 yards for Jacksonville. Smith had 14 catches for 165 yards and McCardell nine receptions for 108 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown.

PATRICK JEFFERS, Panthers, caught seven passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns in Carolina's 45-13 victory over New Orleans, extending his club record to five consecutive games with at least 100 receiving yards.

JERMAINE FAZANDE, Chargers, ran for 183 yards and a touchdown as San Diego beat Denver, 12-6.

CURTIS MARTIN, Jets, gained 158 of his 203 total yards on the ground and scored the only touchdown of the game in New York's 19-9 victory over Seattle. Martin also set the Jets' single-season rushing record with 1,464 yards.

Corey Dillon joined Carl Pickens as the latest member of the Cincinnati Bengals to leave no question about his feelings toward the franchise.

"I'm out, I'm done, I'm through," Dillon said after sitting out Cincinnati's 24-7 loss to Jacksonville on Sunday with a knee injury. "I just want to go somewhere else and get my career going in the right direction. I've come in here, I've done my time, I've been a decent citizen. I came out and played hard. I don't care what it is, I just don't want to be here."

Last week, Pickens said he was upset the Bengals had chosen to retain coach Bruce Coslet for another year.

CBS disses Titans-Steelers

The first 51/2 minutes of the Tennessee Titans-Pittsburgh Steelers game were not televised Sunday in Pittsburgh because CBS did not feed the game to its local affiliate during the conclusion of the Oakland-Kansas City game.

NFL rules dictate that all games must be shown in their entirety in their local market. However, CBS retained the right on the final weekend of the regular season to show games with playoff implications. The NFL promised to investigate why CBS did not show the start of several games in their local markets. CBS spokeswoman Leslie Anne Wade said the network was trying to show the finish of the last remaining game of the day with playoff implications.

"We are disappointed with CBS' decision, which was made without consulting out office," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said. "It is a clear violation of league policy and we will discuss it with CBS tomorrow. The Oakland-Seattle game preempted all 4 p.m. games."

Saved by the weather

Tampa Bay is 0-17 in games when the temperature at kickoff is below 40 degrees, and the initial forecast for Sunday in Chicago was for a high in the low 30s. But with the kickoff temperature a balmy 54 degrees, the Buccaneers rolled to a 20-6 victory and clinched their first division title since 1981.

Saints seething

New Orleans understood why the Carolina Panthers were in it for the points Sunday, but some of the Saints were still angered by an embarrassing close to a disastrous season.

Carolina needed to win the game with a victory margin 18 points more than Green Bay's over Arizona to have a shot at a playoff berth. The Panthers (8-8) won 45-13, however, fell 11 points short.

"Everybody was kind of disappointed because they were sitting there trying to rub it in our faces," New Orleans punter Tommy Barnhardt said. "I think that was totally uncalled for, but they'll get their day. Their time will come."

Carolina's attempt to score as many points as possible also seemed to irk Saints coach Mike Ditka, who called timeouts late in the game, tried a 2-point conversion attempt with 18 seconds left and then an onside kick that the Panthers recovered.

Panthers coach George Seifert said he didn't intend disrespect.

"It's unfortunate that it got to this point, but it did," the Carolina coach said after his team tied a franchise record for points scored in a game. "We had to do everything we could to try to get the club into the playoffs."

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Quote

"I tried to tell the young guys you shouldn't ever forget this feeling because you don't get chances to play in the playoffs that often. Your career is very, very short. Remember how bad this feels and vow to get better." - Glenn Pa rker, the Kansas City tackle who went to four Super Bowls with Buffalo, after the Chiefs missed the playoffs by losing to Oakland 41-38 in overtime. &lt;

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